TIRANA, Aug. 4 – Upon the request of the Ministry of Justice, the European Assistance Mission to the Albanian Justice System (EURALIUS) issued a study on 27 July of a possible privatisation of the state enforcement service.
The study is not a recommendation for or against privatisation of the enforcement service (completely or partly), but a collection of elements and criteria to be kept in mind if one day a decision on privatisation should be taken.
Privatisation is widely supposed to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the proceedings and can reduce the state’s expenses. Many European countries, especially new EU member states, have privatised their enforcement services, whereas several others keep a state system.
In a privatised enforcement service, the state would not need to pay any more for the salaries of bailiffs and the equipment of their offices. But it is likely that privatisation would require an increase of the fees to be paid by the enforcement parties. At present, not all state expenses for the enforcement service in Albania are covered by the collected fees.
The study came to the following conclusions:
A privatisation of the bailiff service could, in principle, be a sensible alternative to the existing full state enforcement systems, provided that several necessary legal and organisational changes are done meticulously – such as the establishment of a Chamber of Bailiffs with supervising functions, independent from the Ministry of Justice.
Developing the legal framework for a privatised enforcement system would require considerable time.
As an alternative to privatisation, the existing state service could be reformed by legal and administrative measures in order to reach a higher efficiency and effectiveness.
